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About Psychology

As a research paradigm, intersectionality is rooted in U.S. Black feminist thought and women of color's critique of approaches to race that elide gender dynamics and studies of gender that ignore the significance of race. It is a research framework that has broad applicability for examining how all systems of inequality co-create privilege and oppression simultaneously, and it has transformed the way researchers and social justice advocates have studied the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, and other dimensions of social inequality. The Intersectionality Community of Scholars (ICOS) aims to establish The University of Tennessee, Knoxville as a nationally regarded center for scholarship and creative activity in this critically important area of social, political, and cultural research. The ICOS engages questions such as how intersectionality can help tackle complex issues of social justice and how to actualize intersectionality's potential as a force for positive social change.